New York-based investors W. P. Carey, providers of long-term net leasing finance for companies worldwide, has just cut a EUR 52 mln deal with German manufacturing giant Schuler. Two of the investment firm’s real estate funds acquired Schuler’s global headquarters and largest production site in Göppingen, just outside Stuttgart. They will be leased back to Schuler on a long-term basis. Schuler is publicly traded on the German Stock Exchange and is one of the global leaders in the manufacture of metal-forming machines and related equipment.
New York-based investors W. P. Carey, providers of long-term net leasing finance for companies worldwide, has just cut a EUR 52 mln deal with German manufacturing giant Schuler. Two of the investment firm’s real estate funds acquired Schuler’s global headquarters and largest production site in Göppingen, just outside Stuttgart. They will be leased back to Schuler on a long-term basis. Schuler is publicly traded on the German Stock Exchange and is one of the global leaders in the manufacture of metal-forming machines and related equipment.
Schuler’s chief financial officer, Wolfgang Baur said that W. P. Carey had been ‘most helpful’ during the sale/leaseback transaction - the second W. P. Carey has clinched with a German middle-market company this quarter. ‘We see great opportunities for doing sale/leaseback transactions with German mittelstand companies - the backbone of the German economy,’ commented Edward V. LaPuma, president of W. P. Carey International.
He went on to say that the investment firm was able to clinch the deal despite the tightening credit markets by providing financing to Schuler on an all-equity basis to meet the German company's timeline.
Earlier this month, WP Carey's non-traded REIT subsidiary CPA (R):16 Global completed a EUR 23 mln sale-and-leaseback deal with German carmaker Voit. COPA acquired Voit's headquarters in St. Ingbert, Germany, and is leasing it back to the German firm on a long-term basis.